Galavant – Completely Mad…Alena/Dungeons and Dragon Lady

In an incredibly unusual turn of events this week, we have events – the plot has progressed far beyond what was expected, taking a few different turns too. We have also had the opportunity to explore some of our characters and their motivations in more detail, and it has been a treat, although large parts of it were completely unrequired.

The plot has progressed far beyond what was expected, taking a few different turns too.

As Completely Mad…Alena kicks off, our heroes have nearly reached Valencia (alas, no Hugh Bonneville cameo) and Isabella is facing a crisis knowing that she is leading Gal into a trap. In order to buy some time, she suggests that the group take a pit stop, heading to a monastery, leading to the series’ much-touted star cameo ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic as a monk. This diversion strictly wasn’t necessary, but was fun, and casting these singing monks with boy band clichés in their song Hey, Hey, We’re the Monks was a good move.

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Madalena is showing her darker colours now, and the other plot began with an ode to herself, No One But You, sang by her and a number of her reflections about how she is only competent character in the show – not a particularly shocking idea, but it paints her as villain beautifully. She works on the chef (Darren Evans) and promises to set him up with her handmaiden if she can learn about Richard’s evil plot to kill Galavant. This culminates in a nice love song between the chef and handmaiden called If I Could Share My Life With You, which was again nice but completely unnecessary.

Isabella faces the moral dilemma of not wanting to betray Gal, leading to Richard unveiling her parent’s heads on platters – they aren’t dead, just going along with it out of boredom. Little touches like this make the show.

Gal, Isabella and Sid try to sneak in, but Richard catches them, revealing Isabella’s complicity before he locks them in the dungeon. Gal kicks up a fuss about her not telling him – I appreciate we have to see Gal being hurt at the betrayal, but it’s just a little unfair, as she did tell him at the end of the last episode and he wasn’t listening. The story ends with Gal taken away to be hanged, only to wind up in Madalena’s chamber instead. It transpires she has set a plan into motion, as evidenced by a mysterious figure grabbing his sword and heading on his way.

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And that leads us into the next episode, Dungeons and Dragon Lady, where the two are having an awkward dinner. Gal is unsure how to react to the circumstances, whereas Madalena enjoys her new surroundings and asks Gal to be her new boy toy. They sing a sort of tango number – I couldn’t find a title, but it’ll be something like Someone Like Me – about their perspectives on the situation, which is a bit steamy, although it ends with Gal being locked back up and Madalena ordering Gareth to torture the prisoners. This leads to a dilemma for Gareth as he contemplates whether to betray his friend, and some more top comedic acting from Vinnie Jones.

Richard is shocked that Madalena has betrayed him, and can’t understand why he is such a pushover. Gareth advises him to be tougher, and the chef suggests going to see the wizard Xanax (Ricky Gervais) to find an answer. Gervais brings his unique brand of not-acting as a magician-cum-faith healer (read drug kingpin) who induces a vision enabling Richard to consider his past. He sings a trippy drug number, A Day in Richard’s Life, as Richard heads back to his past, seeing the time when his older brother Kingsley is to be made king, only to turn it down and give the throne to Richard (but not before stealing his sword). The young Gareth is a spot-on impression – props to whoever that kid is. This gives Richard his epiphany, choosing to once again take control and stop behaving as second-best.

The songs were not as memorable as in the prior episodes, but this seemed to improve the story – Galavant is failing to balance these two aspects, with one always suffering at the expense of the other.

In the dungeons, Gal and Isabella sing another love song, Love Is Strange, in the course of which it transpires that the dungeon doors were not actually locked, and the group escape. We conclude with Richard arriving back at the castle, ready to put Madalena in her place, when it transpires that the mystery figure from the end of the last episode is the adult Kingsley (Rutger Hauer), who has returned to take his place as king.

Another bunch of two interesting episodes, taking a turn I did not predict and I can’t see how this will end next week. The songs were not as memorable as in the prior episodes, but this seemed to improve the story – Galavant is failing to balance these two aspects, with one always suffering at the expense of the other. However, I am more excited to see how this story will conclude after this turn and I am eagerly awaiting next week (although we’ll hopefully have less love songs – I can’t be doing with this many).